


Lonely Thoughts

by ahunmaster



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alcohol, Complicated Relationships, Flashbacks, Gen, Implied Reaper76, Just a few headcannons, Minor Character Death, One Shot, Only if you squint - Freeform, Post-Omnic Crisis, Pre-Fall of Overwatch, not quite canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 16:34:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8408830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ahunmaster/pseuds/ahunmaster
Summary: Surviving the Omnic Crisis had been one thing, but learning to live in the world after they had saved it was another.
Gabriel Reyes can only ponder about what was and what he wishes for.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Italics are for flashbacks.
> 
> Headcannons included in this are just some I have for the characters. Future works may have others depending on what I find interesting to write about.

 

Childhood always made things seem so much easier.  It was stupid and impossible at this point, but the urge to run home to his abuela and cry into her apron was always a warm thought during these days.

 

Gabriel Reyes knew that was impossible now.  His abuela died over a decade ago from a tumors in her lungs and liver.  Smoke and alcohol.  His late abuelo was to blame for the lungs from all those cigars; abuela's only fault was liking to have a few shots over the weekend.

 

Now, he was left wondering if she enjoyed those shots because of what they did to her.  He knew she raised his father and four uncles and an aunt when the recession hit.  His abuelo wasn't lucky to live long enough for Omnica Corp to promise a better future.  At least he hadn't been there to see it turn into humanity's near extinction when the Omnics starting shooting everything human.

 

And now he was left sitting here in his office, staring at a bottle of whiskey that Jack had given to him a few weeks back.

 

_"The Prime Minister of France gave this to me.  It's some kind of exotic brand they make out in the countryside... one company that survived the crisis,"_  Gabriel could remember Jack's face, tired and stressed out, as he handed the unopened bottle to him during one of those rare moments they could meet and just talk.  After the Crisis ended... Dios, it had been so hard to see Jack outside of official meetings and talks.  Blackwatch and Overwatch ran such different schedules and it seemed as though Jack was just being pushed further and further into the spotlight of Overwatch's 'poster boy'.

 

_"You really need to take a vacation,"_  He had suggested during that talk,  _"You're the Strike-Commander, you can take a few days off to catch up or, I don't know, sleep from the looks of things."_

 

Jack had laughed.  Laughed at him.  Gabriel remembered being pissed off at the laugh only to realize later that that laugh wasn't like Jack's other laughs.

 

_"Me?  Take a vacation?  Since when did Overwatch ever take a few days off from saving the world?"_

 

That conversation hadn't ended on a good note, but Jack promised he'd try to take some time off soon.  Maybe they could get together and share the bottle he had just gifted to his old friend.  Then, it was way too late with far too much to do the next day to even sip at a little of it.

 

_“It wouldn’t hurt,” He had remarked, knowing fully well what Jack would say._

_“Man, I wish we could,” and he did.  They both did.  But there was too much responsibilities on their shoulders to even afford a little buzz._

 

Gabriel thought back to his abuela.  She never touched alcohol outside the kitchen and when she hung out with the other abuelas on the street on weekends to have shots.  He always wondered why she only indulged when she was with them.

 

Now as an adult, he understood it a bit better.  Having a beer or shot was fun, but having it with a friend or someone close?  It made everything feel better because you were losing yourself to the haze and the bitter taste with someone you trusted.

 

They had all enjoyed it for a time.  Reinhardt, Torbjörn, Liao, Amari... and Morrison and Reyes.  All six of them would sit around when they weren't being hunted by Omnics and God Programs and enjoy a bottle of something one of them had found on the field (Torbjörn and Liao were pretty good at finding this stuff).

 

It was hard to remember when he had sat down with all of them let alone one.  Jack a few weeks ago... Ana and Reinhardt he had seen at that one conference two months back.  Torbjörn had been in Scandinavia for a while working on improving his turret systems and Liao was always the reclusive one, having never stayed long when the Crisis was over, done, and signed off on a peace treaty of sorts.

 

The others he was okay seeing once in a while or calling up on days.  The Crisis had brought them together, but they still had their own lives outside of Overwatch.  And without God Programs to bring them all together, their individual skills were required in several different fields.

 

But Morrison... Jack had been there through all of the SEP.  Some days, Gabriel wondered if he would have been able to make it through those days of injections and drugs and tests without the man.  And other days he wondered if they both would have survived if the other wasn't there.

 

Was it the same now?  Jack was running here and there for Overwatch trying to keep the world running without the Omnic Crisis unifying them all while he was in Blackwatch cleaning up the messes that Jack couldn't stop beforehand.  Before, they were an unstoppable team.  Now, it was like they were both just running non-stop to keep from fall off the collapsing bridge behind them.

 

It was supposed to be something they would share one day, Gabriel thought as he popped open the seal of the bottle and poured himself a shot.  He and Jack, sitting around the coffee table sharing shots like old times.

 

But those days were over, he thought as he threw the shot back and let it burn down his throat.  The world needed heroes back then and he and Jack were the good guys.

 

Now... they had to learn how to stop being soldiers and start being politicians in a world no longer at war.

 

Gabriel wondered which one of them would collapse first.

 

END

**Author's Note:**

> Finally got more Overwatch written. Been trying to get more written for this fandom, but my ideas are not coming along well. Hopefully I get around to writing more soon.


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